


It's Just Good Manners

by ThinkingofWordstoWrite



Category: The Orville (TV)
Genre: Alien Species, Allergic reaction, Angst with a Happy Ending, First Contact, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Not to be taken seriously, silly fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 16:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18237503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThinkingofWordstoWrite/pseuds/ThinkingofWordstoWrite
Summary: After an allergic reaction to a new species type of food in which Ed nearly dies, he tries to make reparations to their foreign alien prime minister by sending a gift…of food.





	It's Just Good Manners

**Author's Note:**

> -I do not own the Orville.

The food hadn’t been the first thing on Ed’s mind when dealing with a new species. Instead what had been on his mind was the fact that it was a race of people who were purple. This species was a purple skinned humanoid race, and their skies were vivid green and dark purple. Their planet was mostly purple on the outside, and for a moment Ed thought the air wouldn’t work with regular humans, but surprisingly that hadn’t been the issue. 

No. 

The issue had, apparently, been their food. Some weird crustacean thing that looked kind of wickedly awesome actually, but as soon as Ed took a bite, his throat swelled up and he suddenly couldn’t breathe-causing alarm for everyone, even the aliens they were encountering. Thankfully, the aliens were also healers, and one of them stepped up, and healed him immediately, shocking all of the humans that were there. 

“We’re terribly sorry,” Their Prime Minister sounded regretful, even as Ed was breathing hard and trying to calm himself down. He still felt shaky, despite being able to breathe better now. It had all lasted only a handful of minutes, but those minutes…had scared him. He hated to look weak in front of his crew and people, he hated just sitting there trying to breathe. “We should have realized that our food might not be compatible with your human bodies. Perhaps we should meet again tomorrow?” He offered delicately, even as everyone was fussing over Ed. 

“Tomorrow sounds fine,” Ed agreed weakly. They went back to the ship after that, where he was immediately examined in the infirmary, though of course since the aliens had healed him, there was nothing seriously wrong with him-just the aftershock and stress of almost dying from an allergic reaction. He was prescribed some rest, and Ed planned on doing just that, even as he received loads of ‘hope you feel better tomorrow, boss/Captain’s!’ from the crew. 

In his quarters, Kelly rubbed his shoulders reassuringly, even as he said, 

“I didn’t even realize I was having an allergic reaction…I just thought that I was suffocating from the air or something…” 

“Well, I’m just glad they healed you.” Kelly said, sounding serious. “And that it was only an allergic reaction to their food and not someone attempting to poison you.” 

Ed winced, he’d not even thought of that idea! He shook his head. 

“Let’s not borrow trouble.” He frowned at the floor, thinking. “Perhaps we should bring some of our own food tomorrow, show them what we eat?” 

“Not a bad idea,” Kelly mused, even as she was grabbing her tablet and tapping away with her stylus. “I’ll check in with the chef, see if we can’t rustle something up that won’t offend these people…” 

Ed watched in amusement as Kelly became completely immersed in her task, even as he laid back on the bed, feeling tired. Even though the day had flown by, he still wondered at how he could be allergic to their food. He decided he’d figure out tomorrow if he could what it was, exactly, that had caused the allergic reaction. 

 

The next morning dawned bright and early for the Orville crew, all of them eager to see the new aliens again and explore a fascinating and beautiful world. Ed spoke with the Admiral, reassuring him that he was fine and that the aliens were quick to heal him of his illness, and that things were working far more smoothly than things normally did in regards to the Orville. The Admiral was pleased, Kelly was pleased, and everyone seemed happy. 

Until they brought their food down to the planet. 

“I do not understand. We healed you of our food allergy, do you still not wish to try our food?” The alien prime minister asked, looking confused and hurt. Ed blinked. 

“What do you mean ‘healed’?” Ed asked, equally baffled. The alien’s expression of confusion and hurt cleared. 

“Ah! You did not realize. But of course, you would not as you are not from here.” He shook his head. “When you had you’re ‘allergic reaction’ yesterday, and I healed you…I healed not just your instance of harm, but I made it so that you can now completely eat our food safe from harm. You will never again have to fear eating our food.” 

“You…changed my genetic structure?” Ed asked, staring in shock. He’d never met an alien species capable of doing that! If this was true…he exchanged looks with his crew who looked equally stunned by the implication. 

“But of course. Can your species not do such a thing?” The alien prime minister asked, sounding surprised, as though it were a daily thing that happened to them all the time. 

“Er, no. Not at all.” Ed said, clearing his throat. The alien stared. 

“Then when you were having that allergic reaction…if I had not fixed your genetic structure…”   
“I likely would have either died or suffered a great deal while my medics worked to help me, yes.” Ed agreed, and the alien prime minister looked promptly horrified. 

“We had no idea! We are quite terribly sorry-” 

“Whoa, hey. You offered food, and we didn’t see why we shouldn’t turn down such a peace offering. Our species, humans, love trying new things-especially food.” Ed interrupted, quickly. He didn’t want there to be needless guilt added into the mix of this whole incident. “You didn’t know, we didn’t know. It’s all good, especially since you healed me. I should say that I owe you my life-” 

“No. We have had no life debts on our planet for over seven hundred years!” The alien prime minister looked even worse at that proclamation, and Ed sighed. “Please, we are terribly sorry…” 

“It’s alright, Prime Minister, really.” Ed insisted. “Tell you what-how about we forget the whole incident, and share each other’s food? We’ll see just how different our foods are. If you don’t mind, we’d like to take samples of your food back to our ship to examine it to see what caused the allergic reaction to begin with.” He added. 

“By all means, help yourselves. The food here is an abundance that grows from the planets core, there is more than enough for everyone.” The alien Prime Minister said earnestly, nodding. “Consider it a gift, a whole box of our food for your, ahm, examinations.” 

“Thank you, that’s much appreciated.” Ed said, surprised, and pleased. “And, in exchange, a box of our own food for you to try. We hope your species winds up liking chocolate-it’s a favorite of the human race.” 

The alien Prime Minister took a piece of the offered chocolate truffle, examining it closely. He popped the peace into his mouth, and chewed, and then swallowed. The crew of the Orville waited with baited breathe, even as the alien Prime Minister smiled. 

“It is a delicious food.” He proclaimed, and Ed breathed a sigh of relief. “Quite pleasing to our palate. We would be most gratified if you would produce more such…” 

“Chocolate.” Ed finished, grinning. “No problem.” 

With that out of the way, they began to discuss the culture exchange of history, science, and genetics, and how the alien species could manipulate alien DNA as easily as they had done so. Ed was fascinated, and awed by the alien species, even as his crew were taking samples of the alien food and boxing it away. 

It looked as though, despite the beginning near death experience of this mission, it would turn out to be a first contact success. 

One that would be memorable for years to come. 

~*~

End


End file.
